MANPOWER: Eddie G blows a fuse over glamorous German

MANPOWER's most impressive achievement is in making the marriage of squat ugly Edward G Robinson to glamorous over-sexed Marlene Dietrich appear almost plausible - almost.
Otherwise this 1941 Warner Brothers drama is pure hokum, but hokum of the solid gold variety.
Robinson plays Hank McHenry, a lineman on a power company road crew  who earns the nickname 'Gimpy' after his foot touches a live wire while 100 feet up a pylon fixing a break during a torrential thunderstorm. Hank's also got a hot temper and short fuse and relies on his best mate Johnny (George Raft) to extricate him from the barroom bust-ups he's constantly getting into, usually over some dame who's given him the brush-off.
Enter Dietrich as the improbably named Fay, a hard-as-nails clip joint hostess and daughter of Hank's terminally dull (and soon to be terminally dead) pal 'Pop' Duval. The quintessentially American Pop talks so slowly and deliberately that he never gets around to explaining how his daughter came to speak with a strong German accent before he pops his clogs leaving Hank to console the not particularly distraught Fay. Hank pursues her with the relentless vigor of a terrier chasing a rabbit down a hole, finally convincing her to yield to his proposal of marriage when he makes it clear that he doesn't expect her to love him in return. 

So what is Johnny doing while all this unlikely wooing is going on? After all if it's a choice between Robinson and Raft one might reasonable expect a woman of Dietrich's stature to opt for Raft who at least looks like he might have some idea how to make her happy even if he can't act. But Robinson clearly had a smarter agent and got it written it his contract that he got the girl while Raft is relegated to the role of hero's loyal best friend whose job it is to give Fay the stinkeye because he knows she's no good. 
The whole implausible menage-a-trois builds up to a fairly predictable climax but there's plenty of enjoyment to be had getting there, starting with Robinson's no-holds-barred performance and Dietrich gamely giving it her all despite being completely wrong for the part (Ann Sheridan would have been a better bet). There's added lustre courtesy of Warner Bros stock company members Alan Hale, Barton MacLane, and Ward Bond which more than offsets Frank McHugh's irritating schtick and trademark asthmatic laugh, while action specialist Raoul Walsh directs with the total conviction of a man determined to prove he can turn a B-picture script into an A-grade movie.
He can't but it's fun watching him try.